SHELBY, N.C. — An 83-year-old Shelby man accused of killing a young girl more than 40 years ago will never go to trial. Thurman Price died over the weekend.
The last time Eyewitness News saw Thurman Price, he was waiting to find out when he would go to trial in connection with the 1966 slaying of an 11-year-old.
His daughter, Niki Trager, said the agonizing wait and cancer claimed his life Saturday.
“The stress of this supposed trial hanging over his head,” she said.
It took police more than 40 years to arrest and charge Price in the murder of Brenda Sue Brown.
They got their break in 2007 when another man said he and Price beat the girl with a rock. He made the confession to his granddaughter while on his deathbed and she contacted Shelby police.
But Trager said her father proclaimed his innocence all along.
“‘I did not kill that child.’ That was his words,” Trager said.
She said he wanted a trial and he should still have one.
“You would like to see the DA continue the trial?” Eyewitness News asked.
“Absolutely,” Trager said. “Why do away with it now, just because he can't go to prison if he would be found guilty?”
Trager's attorney said there cannot be a trial when the defendant is dead.
The victim's family called Price's death a welcome end to a painful wait for them.
“A little hard to take, but it's over. It's finally over,” said Patrica Buff, the victim's sister.
Buff witnessed Price's arrest, the exhumation of her sister's remains and the pretrial hearings. She said she is certain Price killed her older sister.
“He got to live and my sister didn't. And that's not right,” Buff said.
She said she had one pressing question that she hoped would be answered during a trial. She said now she feels she may never know why her sister was killed.
WSOC
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